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liberty

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Liberty

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English liberte, from Old French liberté, from Latin libertas (“freedom”), from liber (“free”); see liberal.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlɪb.ɪ.ti/, /ˈlɪb.ə.ti/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈlɪb.ɚ.ti/, [ˈlɪb.ɚ.ɾi]
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈlɪb.ɪ.ti/, [ˈlɪb.ɪ.ɾi]

Noun

liberty (countable and uncountable, plural liberties)

  1. The condition of being free.
    The army is here, your liberty is assured.
    • 1863 November 19, Abraham Lincoln, Dedicatory Remarks (Gettysburg Address)‎, near Soldiers' National Cemetery, →LCCN, Nicolay draft, page 1:
      Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal"[sic]
    • 2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, quoting Isaiah Berlin, chapter 5, in Merchants of Doubt:
      But as the philosopher Isaiah Berlin sagely pointed out, liberty for wolves means death to lambs.
    • 2014 July 5, “Freedom fighter”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8894:
      [Edmund] Burke continued to fight for liberty later on in life. He backed Americans in their campaign for freedom from British taxation. He supported Catholic freedoms and freer trade with Ireland, in spite of his constituents’ ire. He wanted more liberal laws on the punishment of debtors.
    • 2021 March 7, Ross Douthat, “Do Liberals Care if Books Disappear?”, in The New York Times:
      Now liberal cultural power has increased, the ACLU doesn’t seem very interested in the liberties of non-progressives anymore, and Dr. Seuss sells as pricey samizdat.
  2. The condition of being free from imprisonment, slavery or forced labour.
    The prisoners gained their liberty from an underground tunnel.
  3. The condition of being free to act, believe or express oneself as one chooses.
    Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
    • 1869, Robert Burns, “The Tree of Liberty”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume III (Posthumous Poems), Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, →OCLC, page 360:
      I'd gie my ſhoon frae aff my feet, / To taſte ſic fruit, I ſwear, man. / Syne let us pray, auld England may / Sure plant this far-famed tree, man; / And blythe we'll ſing, and hail the day / That gave us liberty, man.
  4. Freedom from excessive government control.
  5. A short period when a sailor is allowed ashore.
    We're going on a three-day liberty as soon as we dock.
  6. (often plural) A breach of social convention.
    You needn't take such liberties.
  7. (historical) A local division of government administration in medieval England.
  8. (go) An empty space next to a group of stones of the same color.

Synonyms

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